NYC Special Education: A Billion-Dollar Failure of Prevention

Why the DOE keeps paying lawyers and settlements instead of investing in student outcomes for students with special needs?

Sep 02, 2025

I am excited to share this guest post by

Dr. Jennifer Weber

. Jennifer is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst–Doctoral (BCBA-D), educator, and consultant. She is also the author of the report “The Cost of Restorative Justice in New York City Schools” and writes the Substack
Think Again
.

New York City now spends more than a billion dollars a year reimbursing families for special education services. According to the New York City Comptroller, DOE spending on special education due process reimbursements soared from $161 million in 2012 to $918 million in 2022, reaching $1 billion by 2023. In a separate analysis, the Comptroller’s most recent Course Correction report found that in FY 2024 alone, the city paid out more than $416 million in special education settlements, the single largest category of law claim payouts.

“DOE spending on special education due process reimbursements soared from $161 million in 2012 to $918 million in 2022, reaching $1 billion by 2023.”

When a child in New York City needs special education, such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, a smaller class, or a specialized school, the Department of Education is legally required under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to provide it. If those services are not given, families can file for a due process hearing, which leads to a legal hearing before an impartial officer to enforce their child’s rights. If parents win, the city must either pay for private school tuition, known as a “Carter Case” (after the 1993 Supreme Court ruling), or reimburse families for arranging services and schooling themselves.

These costs mainly come from Carter Cases, where families receive reimbursement after DOE fails to provide required services. Chalkbeat recently reported that the city has already spent millions on compliance efforts, including audits and a federally appointed court monitor, yet families are still left fighting for basic support.

Two years after the federal court’s order, New York City has little to show for the millions already poured into compliance. Despite spending more than $63 million on compliance efforts, audits, and a federally appointed court monitor, families still wait months or years for services. Less than half the reforms have been completed. Families are still waiting on basics like timely payments, confirmations that services are delivered, and a way to track their cases. The funding is not being used effectively. Until DOE shifts from managing compliance to providing services, students will continue to pay the highest price, and the cycle of lawsuits and reimbursements will continue.

In July 2023, a federal judge in L.V. v. New York City Department of Education ordered the city to carry out 51 reforms to fix its broken system for providing special education services. Two years later, just 21 of those reforms have been implemented, leaving many deadlines unmet. According to independent audits reported by Chalkbeat, only 9.5% of service orders and 1% of payment orders were completed on time in the months after the court order.

Recently, at the May 2025 budget hearing, City Council Education Chair Rita Joseph pressed DOE officials about skyrocketing Carter Case costs. At this hearing, the DOE officials admitted spending had already surpassed $1.2 billion in the 2024 fiscal year, with the 2025 budget needing $1.3 billion. DOE officials blamed rising per-student costs now averaging $150,000 per placement, even as they highlighted new autism programs. Those initiatives do not change the underlying reality that families are turning to due process because the city continues to deny or delay services in the first place.

The scale of Carter Case spending shows how reactive the system has become. Instead of providing services when children need them, DOE waits until families have no choice but to file legal claims. By then, months or even years of learning time are lost. That cycle wastes money, ruins trust with families, and forces parents into private placements, because the city has left them without options. A preventative approach, delivering supports up front, would keep more children in their classrooms and reduce costly court battles

Part of prevention also means getting classification right the first time. Nearly 20% of NYC public school students are classified with a disability. This rate should raise some alarm about system-wide inconsistencies. The representation also varies by race and neighborhood, indicating an overburdened system that risks both over- and under-identifying students. A better system would ensure accurate, timely decisions so services go to the students who need them most, before families are forced into hearings.

The court order laid out dozens of basic fixes that could have made the system work. Some of these orders included a hotline for families to call, automatic email notifications when their child’s case moved forward, and a web-based portal to track their status. Providers were supposed to be paid on time, so more therapists would stay in the system. DOE was even ordered to confirm that students received the services or placements they had won in hearings, the most fundamental measure of accountability. Yet two years later, most of these steps remain undone.

Each unmet obligation shows the same pattern: New York City reacts only after families sue. The DOE continues to leave parents in the dark, drive providers away, and let court cases pile up. The reforms are common-sense safeguards. If implemented, they would move the city out of a reactive mode and into prevention, saving both taxpayer dollars and children’s futures.

Some reforms would have an immediate impact if DOE prioritized them this fall. The most urgent are fixing the broken payment process, so therapists and service providers don’t quit working with the city. Additionally, creating a simple system to confirm that children receive the services and placements they are supposed to receive is also a priority. Without these steps, families may win hearings but still lose months of learning, as delayed payments drive providers out and force families back into litigation. Other reforms, such as publishing a public dashboard and launching parent-facing status trackers, are essential for long-term accountability and transparency. These commitments are already years overdue, and DOE should make them a top priority rather than allowing another school year to slip by because every semester lost to delay is instructional time children can never regain.

New York cannot afford to keep treating special education as a matter for lawyers and auditors while children wait. Every Carter Case is evidence that the system failed a child. The billions spent on reimbursements could instead fund therapists, smaller classes, and specialized programs inside public schools. Prevention also means getting classification right the first time, so children who truly need special education are supported quickly, while others aren’t misidentified and left without appropriate instruction. Until the DOE shifts from reaction to prevention, New York will keep wasting money, and children will keep losing years they cannot get back.